Peace remains elusive in one of the world’s longest-running civil wars. The ethnic Karen have fought for greater autonomy for nearly 70 years in their homeland of Myanmar’s southeast Kayin state. While ongoing peace talks may provide a framework for formally ending the conflict, a durable solution will likely remain beyond reach unless the underlying conditions that animate Karen grievances are addressed.

Tunisia’s 2019 parliamentary and presidential elections are just over ten months away. In the aftermath of the 2014 elections, two parties, Nidaa Tounes and the Islamist Ennahda movement, used their combined seats to form a government. Nearly five years later, Ennahda seems poised to perform well due to its enduring popularity, while Nidaa Tounes has seen its support steadily decline due in part to internal fractures.

While counterterrorism (CT) operations in southern and eastern Yemen have been largely successful, the sustainability of the current CT structure is questionable. The elements that make local CT forces dynamic and effective may undermine postwar operations run by the Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG).

Fighting in Yemen’s Hudayda city led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents over the summer. Some settled in makeshift shelters in urban areas, while others headed for IDP camps constructed by NGOs or Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG)-affiliated institutions.

Houthi forces have used a combination of conventional weaponry and unconventional, ad-hoc strategies to fight forces loyal to the Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG) and its Arab-led coalition allies in the ongoing Yemeni civil war. Here, Navanti reviews two of the Houthis’ unorthodox methods for prosecuting the ongoing conflict.

A number of Syrian news outlets have reported that the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration (AA) is negotiating with Damascus over the future of the resource-rich quarter of the country under AA control. Are negotiations actually underway, and, if so, what do they mean for a possible political settlement to the civil war?

When Mekunu struck Yemen’s southern coastline late last month, dozens of residents of al-Mahra and Hadramawt provinces were injured and killed as the cyclone sank boats and swept cars and buses off the roads. Stormwater created a series of small waterfalls on the hilly island of Socotra, leaving over 40 people missing by Mekunu’s end.

In northeast Nigera, the impact of Boko Haram rule can linger for years after the extremist organization is cleared from an area. Navanti researchers recently visited Cross Kawa, a village in Borno state that has struggled to rebuild its economy since the Nigerian military captured it from Boko Haram in late 2015.

Al-Suwayda residents have buried their political differences in favor of maintaining social cohesion and stability, and as a result, the province has witnessed only rare instances of armed combat over the past seven years. But the Syrian civil war has found its way into the area by other means.

The Syrian civil war is among the bloodiest conflicts of the 21st century to date. A UN report in 2016, the last year the organization officially tracked casualties in Syria, estimated that 400,000 people had been killed in the ongoing fighting.

Ta’izz has experienced instability since the Yemen conflict broke out in 2011, as Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG)-aligned militias, and pro-Houthi forces fought for control over different neighborhoods of the city.

Socotra is an island in the Arabian sea located southeast of the Yemeni coast. UNESCO recognized Socotra as a world natural heritage site in 2008, as the island boasts 700 unique species of plants and animals.

Navanti updated its Periodic Table of Terrorist Groups to reflect the landscape of extremist organizations in 2017 across South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South Asia. The new periodic table can be found here.

In September 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began a campaign to recapture large parts of Syria’s eastern Deir al-Zour province from ISIS. Around the same time, the SDF announced the creation of the Deir al-Zour Civil Council (DZCC) to administer the oil-rich desert province in the post-ISIS phase.

Businesses and organizations operating in volatile environments have several options available to them for protecting employees from the dangers of terrorism, kidnapping, street crime, and other physical threats.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Tabqah , located west of al-Raqqa city, from ISIS in May 2017. Since that time, the SDF-affiliated Tabqah Civil Council (TCC) has begun the arduous task of restoring some semblance of normal life to a city all but destroyed by the six-year civil war.

When President Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on 06 DEC 2017, regional heads of state including Jordanian King Abdullah and Saudi King Salman warned that violent reactions would spill over from Israel-Palestine into surrounding countries. Within hours of the announcement, Navanti provided its clients with a street level view detailing possible security threats in the MENA region.

Forces affiliated with the Saudi-led coalition retook the coast of the Yemeni province of Hadramawt from Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in spring 2016. While Hadramawt witnessed limited fighting during that period, it has largely remained insulated from the Yemeni civil war because Houthi forces never managed to secure a foothold inside the southeastern province.